• International journal of advanced smart convergence
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.170-178
• /
• 2022

Purpose: Gardening has been reported to have positive emotional and physical effects in older adults. However, limited studies have assessed this relationship in Korea. Therefore, in this pilot study of densely populated urban dwellers, we aimed to investigate whether temporary but repeated experiences of the natural environment could positively change metabolism-related blood indicators. Methods: This study used pre- and post-interventional designs to investigate the effects of 16 weeks of gardening on lipid profiles in an urban adult population and investigate their relationships. This study was conducted 30 times at the H Botanical Garden in Yongin City from August 16, 2021 to November 30, 2021 (16 weeks, twice a week, 3 hours each time). Before and after the gardening program, a clinical pathologist collected blood samples from the participants. Results: High-density lipoprotein levels increased, low-density lipoprotein levels decreased, and total cholesterol levels decreased after the gardening activity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that gardening has potential for clinical application as it has good control over the lipid profile through physical activity. These findings can be used as basic data for studying the relationship between urban populations and their living environment and for various studies in the future as experiencing the natural environment provides many health benefits.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.119-126
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to examine effects of community gardening on job stress and job satisfaction experienced by public officials in general administration working in a 24-hour shift. The subjects were public officials at the Center for Missing Children in the Department of Women and Adolescents at the National Police Agency. The center receives initial reports of disappearance of missing children, the elderly with dementia, and people with intellectual disabilities, sends out the report to each police station, and clears the report after the missing individual is found. Twelve public officials working at the center in a double shift (full day off after a night shift, four-day interval) were grouped into four teams and total 11 of them participated in the experiment. They engaged in autonomous community gardening activities such as sowing seeds, cultivating plants, harvesting, or cooking in the workplace for five weeks from August 19 to September 22, 2018. The findings were as follows. After five weeks of autonomous gardening activities, job stress of the subjects decreased significantly. Their mean scores of job satisfaction and organizational commitment under organizational effectiveness showed a significant increase after the activities. Finally, there were significant differences in their self-esteem after participating in the gardening activities in the workplace. These results suggest that gardening activities in the workplace can help to manage job stress and quality of work life for shift workers.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.565-576
• /
• 2020

Background and objective: The elderly living in homeless living facilities for a long time suffer from various mental health problems. This study aims to determine the psychological, emotional, and social effects of a horticultural therapy program composed of gardening activities, which was designed based on the semantic structures of life for the homeless elderly living in the facilities for a long time. Methods: A total of 12 subjects (6 in the control group and 6 in the experimental group) participated in the study. The horticultural therapy program consisted mainly of gardening activities, and a total of 16 sessions were conducted once a week for 16 weeks, 60-90 minutes per session. The subjects were tested to evaluate their self-esteem, depression, and horticultural activities. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test, Wilcoxon rank test, and Friedman test, which were nonparametric tests, conducted at a 95% significance level. Results: First, in the case of self-esteem, a significant difference was found between the groups, 20.00 points (SD = 5.69) in the control group, and 25.50 points (SD = 3.73) in the experimental group (p = .034). Second, in the case of depression, no statistically significant difference was found in the posttest. Finally, in the case of the horticultural activity evaluation, the scores of most variables gradually and significantly increased during the program [Verbal interaction during activity (p = .006), Self-concept and identity (p = .006), Need-drive adaptation (p < .001), Interpersonal and social relations (p < .001)]. Conclusion: These results support that the horticultural therapy program could help the elderly improve psychological relaxation, emotional stability, and social relationships. In order to generalize the results, it is suggested to increase the number of subjects or conduct additional repetitive experiments in further research.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.513-527
• /
• 2016

The objective of the present study was to review the current research about the outcomes of horticultural activity interventions in order to determine research trends and analyze the characteristics of horticultural activity interventions. We reviewed the literature using search engines such as the Web of Science, Proquest Dissertation and Theses, Academic Search Premier, Research Information sharing Service, and Korean National Assembly Digital Library to locate journal articles that include relevant search terms (e.g., gardening activity, gardening program, allotment garden, urban agriculture, horticultural therapy, and horticultural activity). We initially identified 14,414 journal articles that were published before April 2014 and selected 509 of the papers for review. We found that studies investigating treating children and adults 8 to 64 years old were the most common, and horticultural activities such as gardening outdoors, planting indoors, making crafts with live plants, arranging flowers, making crafts with artificial or pressed flowers, and other activities were usually combined. Short/medium term (11 to 20 sessions) horticultural activity programs were the most frequent, and most interventions were of medium duration (> 60 min to 120 min). Most of the studies focused on the psychological or emotional effects of horticultural intervention, such as its effects on emotional intelligence, self-esteem, stress, and depression. Further studies are needed to analyze the research methodology, specific outcomes, and strengths or weaknesses of studies investigating horticultural activity interventions.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.5
• /
• pp.710-720
• /
• 2014

Movements of the upper and lower limb muscles during five common gardening tasks were analyzed by using electromyography (EMG). Twenty adults aged in their twenties (mean age, $24.8{\pm}2.4$ years) were recruited. On two separate occasions, subjects visited a garden plot to perform digging, raking, troweling, weeding, and hoeing; all tasks were performed three times with 20 s intervals for each trial. To measure muscle activation during the five gardening tasks, surface EMG was used. Bipolar surface EMG electrodes were attached to eight upper limb muscles (bilateral anterior deltoid, biceps brachialis, brachioradialis, and flexor carpi ulnaris) or eight lower limb muscles (bilateral vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, biceps femoris, and gastrocnemius) on both sides of the body, for a total of 16 muscles. During the five tasks, photographs were taken of movement phases using a digital video camera. The right flexor carpi ulnaris and brachioradialis showed higher activation than the other upper and lower limb muscles measured during the tasks. All 16 upper and lower limb muscles were actively used only during digging. According to movement analysis of each activity, digging was classified into four movement phases, whereas raking, troweling, weeding, and hoeing each were divided into three movement phases. In each activity, there were high-impact phases in terms of muscle activation; the flexor carpi ulnaris and brachioradialis were identified as major muscles in each impact phase. This analysis may be used to generate biomechanical profiles of gardening tasks for practitioners when designing efficient gardening interventions for physical health or rehabilitation.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.454-462
• /
• 2012

This study was to research the effective use of green rooftop space, facilities and gardening, targeting members from community rehabilitation centers with disabilities. The three community rehabilitation centers studied were, Namyangju Center located in a rural area, Seoul Center located in a urban area and Siheung Center located in both a rural and urban area. We analyzed the difference in preference on the basis of each local community area. In fact, it indicated that 50% of each center knew about the green rooftop at their facilities and its use as a place for taking walks and conversation. It also showed that there was the high preference for priority objects such as a bench, pergola and trash can. Also the preference for natural visualizations like herbal or ornamental plants. The study showed a high preference to a small vegetable plot, hands on gardening and ecological wetland. It also indicated that there was a high preference for experience in nature programs on the rooftops (28.9 %) versus the rate of horticultural programs (27%). Therefore, it proves that the composition of a green rooftop at a community rehabilitation center should be differentiated so that the green rooftop can be a place not only for resting, but also great for a natural learning experience and gardening therapy for people with disabilities.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.32 no.1
• /
• pp.123-128
• /
• 2014

This study investigated the exercise intensity and energy expenditure involved in two gardening activities (planting transplants and sowing seeds in a garden plot) and four common physical activities (running, skipping rope, walking, and throwing a ball) in children. Eighteen children aged 11 to 13 years (mean age, $12.3{\pm}0.7$ years) participated in this study. The children made two visits to a high tunnel in Cheongju, Chungbuk, South Korea and performed randomly selected activities. Each activity was performed for 10 min, with a 5-min rest period between activities. The children wore a Cosmed $K4b^2$ (Cosmed $K4b^2$; Cosmed, Rome, Italy), which is a portable calorimetric monitoring system, to measure indicators of metabolic cost such as oxygen uptake and energy expenditure. The children's heart rates during the activities were measured by radiotelemetry (Polar T 31; FitMed, Kempele, Finland). We found that the two gardening and four physical activities performed by the 11-13 years old children in this study were moderate-to high-intensity physical activities [i.e.,$5.4{\pm}0.7$ to $9.1{\pm}1.4$ metabolic equivalents (METs)]. Running ($9.1{\pm}1.4$ METs) and skipping rope ($8.8{\pm}1.1$ METs) were high-intensity physical activities, whereas walking ($6.1{\pm}0.9$ METs), planting transplants ($5.8{\pm}1.1$ METs), throwing a ball ($5.6{\pm}1.1$ METs), and sowing seeds ($5.4{\pm}0.7$ METs) were moderate intensity physical activities. Running and skipping rope were significantly more intense than the other activities (P < 0.0001). The gardening tasks such as planting transplants and sowing seeds in a garden plot showed similar exercise intensities and energy costs as walking and throwing a ball. This study indicates that gardening can be used as a physical activity intervention to provide health benefits similar to more common physical activities such as walking and running.

• The Journal of Economics, Marketing and Management
• /
• v.12 no.1
• /
• pp.89-96
• /
• 2024

Purpose: This study explored the impact of using a music and horticultural therapy program on depression among rural seniors living in Yeongam-gun and conducted a comparative analysis before and after the program to present basic data helpful for an integrated mental health promotion program tailored to rural areas. Research methodology: The analysis subjects of this study were users of the rural residential program of 'Our Village Day Care Center' in Yeongam-gun in 2023, with a total of 20 people, 10 seniors for each program. The research analysis used SPSS to determine the effect on participation and depression before and after the program was implemented. Results: As a result of the analysis, depression levels decreased after completion of the horticultural therapy program and music therapy program, and this was statistically significant. Conclusion: Three implications are presented based on the following research results. First, the need for programs that can improve not only the physical health but also the mental health of elderly people living in rural areas is suggested. Second, the need for programs that link cultural programs such as music and gardening activities with welfare programs is suggested. Third, the need for follow-up management and verification of periodic mental health checkups for rural elderly is suggested.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.517-525
• /
• 2010

Horticultural therapy is a complementary therapy by trained professionals utilizing plant and horticultural activities as media to pursue the positive change of clients, which resulting from stimuli of plant nature, activities, and interaction with other people. Outdoor horticultural activities provide clients with the opportunities of the contact to nature such as fresh air and sunlight as well as plants. But the importance of plant nature to client's health has not been fully acknowledged compared to that of therapist's role and activities in horticultural therapy in Korea. In horticultural therapy it is possible for client to participate on the various levels from passive viewing to active gardening according to the client's ability. Therefore it is necessary for horticultural therapists to consider the therapeutic factors of plant nature to maximize the therapeutic effect of horticultural therapy. The purpose of the research is to clarify the therapeutic factors in the contact of client with plant nature and to emphasize those importance in horticultural therapy. From the review of the experimental researches five therapeutic factors were revealed: Natural light, plant natural view, natural sound, aroma(volatile oils of plants), and plant itself. This paper raises the importance of outdoor activities in horticultural therapy and the necessity for severely handicapped clients to the contact with plant nature, though passively.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.119-135
• /
• 2021

Background and objective: This study was conducted to identify the components of kindergartener horticultural education by deriving objective components of horticultural education using the Delphi survey method, and then to provide basic data that can be used when creating horticultural programs in the regular curriculum. Methods: A total of 32 experts including professors of early childhood education, kindergarten directors, horticultural therapy professors, and horticultural therapists were selected as the Delphi panel. Of the 32 selected, only 29 answered all three rounds of the surveys. For the first round of the survey, an open-ended questionnaire, was used, and in the second and third rounds closed-ended questionnaires were used. Results: Results indicated that under the category of the goals of horticultural education, there were 7 items related to the current problems of horticultural education, 16 items related to the need for horticultural education in the smart age, 18 items related to the direction of horticultural education, and 5 items related to the areas most suitable for horticulture education for young children in the Nuri Curriculum. Results in the category of the implementation of horticultural education indicated that 2 items related to horticultural education hours, 3 items related to the venue for horticultural education, 2 items related to the activity types applicable to the Nuri Curriculum, and 4 items related to the objects of horticultural activities were derived. As the current problems of horticultural education, the following items were identified: event-oriented activity (M = 4.24) and lack of kindergarten teachers' opportunities for systematic gardening education (M = 4.21). The results related to the necessity of horticultural education indicated the following items: education on respect for life through caring (M = 4.59), emotional intelligence and stability (M = 4.55), directly experience of the growth process of plants (M = 4.55), and development of the five senses (M = 4.55). Finally, within the direction of horticultural education: nurturing the desire to live with nature (M = 4.50), and learning about life (M = 4.44) was identified, which had higher averages. Within the areas of the Nuri Curriculum, which is most consistent with horticultural education, nature exploration (M = 4.69) and the integration of all areas (M = 4.59) were derived as priorities. Also, regarding the implementation of horticultural education, the following items were derived as the priority from the expert group: 30-40 minutes (M = 4.14) and 40-50 minutes (M = 4.14) for class periods, outdoor garden in a kindergarten(M = 4.66) for the venue of gardening education, outside play (M = 4.59) for the activity type, and vegetable crops (M = 4.55) for the objects of gardening activities. Conclusion: It is significant that the goal and implementation of kindergartner horticultural education were objectively derived through collecting opinions of expert panels. Based on the results of this study, a horticultural education program for kindergarten teachers should be implemented.